A/N: Wow. Wow. I completely vanished for a long time on this story. I am SO sorry. If I still have any readers left, I apologize a million times and offer you this update. Hopefully you will not be too upset with me. In fact, I am off to write another chapter right now, to help smooth things over. But if you want Josie and Don to end up together...I'm sorry again. You will have to be patient. It will take a while. See the wonders of communication?! And I hate Melody about as much as anyone else does. Please enjoy! And thank you to everyone who added this story to their favourites. You have no idea how much that means!CHAPTER SEVEN
Don slammed the door as he stormed into his house. His dad sat on the couch, watching a football game, a drink in his hand. The way his head bobbed between sleep and awake, Don could tell his dad was drunk. With a low sigh, he raked his fingers through his hair and sat down next to his father. Charlie turned to his dishevelled son and swallowed the rest of his drink. Don stared blankly at the TV. It was a college football game, Longhorns against Mustangs. Charlie always cheered for the Longhorns when he was drinking.
"Where's your new girlfriend Donnie?" he asked, his words thick with a whiskey accent.
"I left her at the dance," Don mumbled.
His dad snorted. "Why would you do a stupid thing like that? Unless-did you tell Josie how you feel?"
"No uh…did something stupider," he sighed.
"Why am I not surprised? What did you do, Donnie?" Charlie demanded, pouring more of the amber liquid into his glass.
"I called her a backstabbing whore, for lying about going to the dance with Chavo. She slapped me and said she never wanted to speak to me again," he stated, blinking tears from his eyes.
"She had every right to," Charlie sighed. "You had a good thing in that girl. For some reason, she defends your poor performance on the field. She can actually handle the humiliation of your inability to hold the ball."
"Dad, I don't need a football lecture right now," Don groaned.
"You're right. You need a kick in the ass for bein' so Goddamn stupid," Charlie barked.
Don stood up, shoving his hands in his pockets. "What I really need is a father I can talk to, instead of hide from. I'm sad mom is gone too, dad."
"Boy you don't know what sad is," Charlie stated, shaking his head.
"I lost you the same night I lost mom. And tonight I lost my best friend. I think I know a thing or two about sadness," Don explained.
"I'm right here, Don. I'm not going anywhere," Charlie whispered.
"You already have, dad. You're a drunk. What good are you to me?" Don asked, walking out of the room.
Charlie Billingsley leaned back on the couch, the weight of his son's words ringing in his ears. The glint of his championship ring caught his eye. With a disgusted grunt, he pulled the ring off his finger and flung it at the TV. He downed the whiskey in his glass before tossing the glass onto the couch and drinking straight from the bottle.
Upstairs, Don lay on his bed, staring at an old picture of him and Josie. He thought about calling her, begging her to forgive him. She'd have to forgive him. They couldn't give up a six year friendship over a silly fight. Was it really a silly fight though? He'd called her a backstabbing whore. In front of everyone. And then he'd agreed to be Melody's boyfriend. An aggravated groan pushed through his lips and he slammed the photo onto his nightstand, grabbing the phone. He jabbed at the digits to Josie's number with misdirected rage. Her mom answered, telling him that Josie had come home to change and then gone for a walk with Brian. After hanging up, Don cursed and pulled off his dress clothes. He slipped a wrinkled t-shirt over his head and pulled on some old jeans before climbing out of his window. He was halfway to Brian's house when he stopped mid-jog. How desperate would he look to her? He was running to her, to apologize for the terrible things he'd said. If she didn't laugh at him, Brian would. And he would tell everyone on the team. He sighed in defeat and turned around to head home. He could apologize to her later, when no one was around.
While Don was wallowing in self pity, Josie was sitting in an oak tree listening to the crickets serenade the blanket of the night. Her left leg dangled over the edge of the branch. A beat up sketch pad rested in her lap and she chewed on her pencil. She should have enjoyed her night with Brian. He had comforted her after the dance, listened to her while she called Don every name she could think of, even inventing her own when she ran out of names to call him. But all she could think about was Don. She had thought she'd hear from him by this point in the night, despite telling him that she never wanted to speak to him again. Things of that nature never stopped him from keeping himself in her life. She stared blankly at the open book in her lap, unaware that she had drawn a cartoon version of her friend cradling a football. With a mournful sigh, Josie snapped the book shut and dropped down to the ground.
--
Morning crept up on Don while he lay awake in his bed staring at his blue ceiling. The stick on glow stars were fading into the daylight, off to rest up for the coming night. Before his alarm clock could begin the hour long task of rousing him from his usual deep slumber, he reached over and switched it off. After a full night of listening to his dad drink himself closer to his wife, Don knew that a seven AM wake up call was not on the list. The thought of a warm shower managed to get Don to leave the awkward comfort of his bed. Time to start what would promise to be a painful day. As he let the water wash over him, he replayed his apology over and over in his head. He would break up with Melody, first thing. No sense stringing her along through the situation. Then he would find Josie; tell her everything while simultaneously begging her to forgive his hurtful words. Heat of the moment was his best defence. By the time he was kicking stones down the road on his way to school, he was already feeling better.
--
Josie stood at her locker, fluffing her day old hair and trying to hide the circles under her eyes. It seemed silly the whole time, but she wouldn't sleep until he called. She had been convinced he would. He had never let a fight go on this long. Neither one of them could live with it. The rejection settled low in her stomach; hardening into a tight, uncomfortable lump she couldn't get rid of. When her mom had come to wake her for school, she had found Josie sitting on the floor, leaning against the bed staring at nothing. Now all Josie could stare at was her dishevelled reflection in the mirror. In an act of surrender, she pulled her hair into a messy ponytail on the side of her head and slammed the door shut.
"Am I interrupting something?" Josie turned and found Brian standing with his hands in his pockets.
Josie mustered a half smile through her fatigue. "Bad hair day."
"Looks fine to me," he shrugged. "I had fun last night Josie."
"Oh uh…I kinda did too," she lied, hugging her binder to her chest.
"Have you talked to Don yet?" he inquired, tossing small talk aside.
Her mouth formed a tight lipped smile. "No."
"Bummer. He probably got too busy with Melody," he stated.
"What do you want, Brian?" she snapped.
"Hey cool it Josie. I just came to see how you were holding up. Don't take your anger out on me," he shot back.
She sighed, pinching the bridge of her nose. "You're right. I'm sorry. It's just-I've never gone this long in a fight with Don."
"It's been one night, Josie."
"Yeah well, when you've had a best friend since you were six that you've never gone a day without speaking to, you can come and talk to me," she said. "I have to go to class."
"We should go out tonight. It would help you forget about…well, ya know," he stated with a shrug.
She bit the corner of her lower lip. "Um, can I get back to you with that?"
He nodded. "You know where to find me."
Josie watched him walk away, one hand in his pocket and whistling a song by Pink Floyd. The fact he tried to whistle a song by one of the biggest stoner bands in rock and roll history, made Josie smile. Perhaps Don was wrong about Brian's intentions. But she didn't have time to dwell on thoughts and potential feelings for him. If she wanted her day to go smoothly at all, she would have to find Don and talk to him. She needed to tell him that she didn't mean it when she told him she never wanted to speak to him again. The truth was, Josie knew she would never be able to live her life without him. This weird tense mood they had both been in, she realized, had settled on them the day he'd kissed her. And she hadn't been able to stop thinking about that kiss. She could still feel the chills it had sent through her and the electric tingles that buzzed along her fingers and toes. Now she was beginning to wonder if she really was just surprised, or if it were something a little deeper than that. Either way, she had to find out. She needed to know why he'd kissed her, and if she was upset because she had feelings for him.
When she rounded the corner and began to march toward his locker, she stopped. He was there, dressed in his faded blue jeans with the hole in the left knee. She knew them well. They were his favourite pair. She couldn't hide the smile on her face when he turned in her direction and she saw he was wearing a Pink Floyd shirt. But the smile soon vanished when Melody ran up to him and wrapped her arms around his torso. Josie turned her back on the couple, trying to ignore the sting of tears. Brian was right. Don hadn't called because he had been with Melody. He wasn't sorry for the things he had said or the things he had done. She touched her quivering lips with the tips of her fingers, recalling the softness of his kiss. Whether he had kissed her for practice, he was caught in the moment, or it was a perfect excuse to kiss her because he cared about her didn't matter to her anymore. Josie had managed to sort the chaos of thoughts in her head. She had feelings for her best friend. And now he was dating her worst enemy. The tight lump of rejection floated up into her chest and seized her heart. She could feel her heartache in her whole body and soon it began to choke her. Without looking back at them, she darted to the girl's washroom and promptly tried to vomit up her pain.